The Most Important Virtue

Maya Angelou said, “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.”

At any given moment, I can struggle like everyone else.

Whenever I am not feeling awesome, I check in with my 5 pillars. Gratitude, Compassion, Courage, Surrender and Openness and Curiosity. That is hard wired in me now. Rarely do I not realize that I am struggling and I act out (my husband will assure you that it does still happen, of course!) — but if things are really tricky, really hard, I say to myself, if I can only be one thing right now, let me be brave.

That gets me moving forward. The virtue of being brave.

It allows us to pause and get more information instead of immediately acting out. It feels vulnerable to not immediately act out of the fight/flight impulse. It feels vulnerable to face whatever fear or pain I need to face.

Remembering to be grateful keeps me strong and supports me having courage to grow. Gratitude will always support being brave when you need it.

Don’t take my word for it, try this for yourself. Write “Be Brave” on one hand, and “Be Grateful” on the other. Leave the words there all week and look at them often.